Events April 2024

Ambassaden (formerly US Embassy), Oslo. Photo: Einar Aslaksen, courtesy Lund Hagem Arkitekter AS.
Interior view, Ambassaden (formerly US Embassy, Oslo. Ambassaden (formerly US Embassy), Oslo. Photo: Einar Aslaksen, courtesy Lund Hagem Arkitekter AS.
US Embassy, Oslo, Norway. Photo: wikipedia
LocalPanel Discussion

The Paul S. Byard Memorial Lecture: Restoration of the Former US Embassy in Oslo

April 15, 2024

Columbia GSAPP will host a panel presentation on the restoration of the former US Embassy in Oslo, originally designed by Eero Saarinen in 1959. The event speakers are Svein Lund of Lundhagem Arkitekter and Jonas Norsted of Atelier Oslo, with Erik Langdalen and Jorge Otero-Pailos. Response by Professor Laurie Hawkinson. 1.5 AIA/CES total learning credits.

Analogue Sites, the public art exhibition of large steel sculptures that Jorge Otero-Pailos created while preserving the former U.S. Embassy in Oslo, is open from April 1 through October 31, 2024 along the Park Avenue Malls at 53rd, 66th, and 67th Streets.


Speakers:

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Svein Lund is founding partner and chairman of Lund Hagem Architects established in 1990 together with Einar Hagem. Over three decades his work has been driven by a consistent approach inspired by the Norwegian design tradition of simplicity, minimalism and functionality. All his projects are informed by a sensitive approach to the surrounding landscape and a dynamic dialogue between nature and the built environment. Lund’s wide ranging portfolio includes holiday homes, private villas and large scale residential and housing projects, office and commercial developments, notable cultural and educational projects, hotels and leisure complexes and urban master plans. 

Jonas Norsted is a founding partner of the Norwegian architecture firm Atelier Oslo which was established in 2006. The studio has been successful in various architectural competitions and is known for its environmentally friendly and innovative designs, ranging from public buildings to single-family houses and cabins. Norsted, along with his partners, has a varied and international background, and the studio’s working method is rooted in curiosity and interdisciplinary collaboration, leading to sustainable solutions. In addition to his architectural work, Norsted also teaches at the Oslo School of Architecture and has been recognized for his contributions to the field of architecture. 

Erik Langdalen is a practicing architect and a Professor of Architecture at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). Erik Langdalen Arkitektkontor is an award-winning office specialized on the preservation and transformation of historic buildings, including the newly reopened Eero Saarinen designed US Embassy in Oslo, the soon to be opened Magnus Poulsson designed Dombås Church, and the Posten Moderne Museum of Contemporary Art in Trondheim (2025), as well as a number of heritage sites across Norway. His teaching and research focus on the recent past, specializing on concrete architecture, buildings systems and components. He is currently co-heading the research project Provenance Projected, Architecture Past and Future in the Era of Circularity (2023-27).

Jorge Otero-Pailos is an American-Spanish artist, preservation architect, scholar, and educator renowned for pioneering experimental preservation practices. He is the founder of Otero-Pailos Studio and Director and Professor of Historic Preservation at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), where he also directs the Columbia Preservation Technology Lab, and where he founded the first PhD program in Historic Preservation in the US.

Laurie Hawkinson is a Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University, where she teaches Advanced Studio. She is co-author of Designing New York: Prefabrication in the Public Realm, a publication produced by Columbia GSAPP and the NYC Public Design Commission. Publications on her work include Between Spaces: Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architecture (2000) and Smith-Miller + Hawkinson. She is Architect and co-founder of Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects, a New York City-based design studio in architecture, urban design, installations, and exhibitions.

 

Monday April 15, 6:30 pm
Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Wood Auditorium
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